Wednesday, 26 August 2015

Farmers In Kapiri Mposhi Prefer Private Buyers To FRA

By Paul Shalala in Kapiri Mposhi

An FRA depot

The Food Reserve Agency (FRA) has in the
first seven days of this year’s maize marketing season bought 65,000 of 50 Kilogram bags
of maize from the targeted 225,000 bags in Kapiri Mposhi District of
Central Province.

The 2015 Maize Marketing Season opened on Monday last week.

This follows the improvement in the
moisture content in maize.

Farmers countrywide are now selling their
maize to both the Food Reserve Agency and private buyers.

This year, the Food Reserve Agency is
buying a 50 KG bag at K75.

Payment for the farmers is made 14 days
after the maize is delivered to the FRA.

But the farmers in Kapiri Mposhi want the
payment period to be shortened.

"We want FRA to help us if they can pay us early. We want to use the money for our children who are going for school," said John Kapesa, a local farmer.

Those who cannot wait for the two weeks
payment period offered by the FRA are now flocking to private buyers.

Greenbelt Fertilisers is one of the buyers
in Kapiri Mposhi.

Due to their instant payment for maize
delivered by farmers, this company is attracting hundreds of trucks full of the
commodity.

Some of the farmers here come from far
flung areas and they spend days on the queue.

From the number of farmers selling maize to Greenbelt Fertilisers, it is clear that farmers prefer fast cash than waiting for FRA to pay them in 14 days.

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About The Author

Paul Shalala is a Kitwe-based reporter for the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation, the country's national broadcaster which runs two TV channels and three radio channels. He was recently elected as Secretary (Northern Region) 2016 - 2018 term for the Zambia Union of Broadcasters and other Information Disseminators. On The Zambian Analyst, he blogs about politics, elections, governance and other issues of national and international interest. He previously worked for MUVI Television, New Vision Newspaper and freelanced for The London Evening Post. He has been trained in various specialised journalism courses in Ethiopia, Germany, Ghana, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia. He was awarded the 2016 Mandela Washington Fellowship and studied Public Management at Syracuse University in New York. He has so far reported from Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa and North America. Paul has a number of local and international media awards to his credit. Paul is also the the founder and Managing Director for PAMOS Media Consultancy (www.pamosmedia.com) a company which is training 100 Zambian journalists in budget tracking and investigative journalism skills funded by the US Government